ST JAMES, Jamaica — Work has been paused on the Montego Bay Perimeter Road as the contractor, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), reviews its safety procedures following last Thursday’s on-the-job death of engineer Clifton James who was part of the work crew.

James was crushed by a truck while he was measuring a section of the road.

READ: Engineer dies after being crushed by truck while working on MoBay bypass

“They are supposed to report back to NROCC [National Road Operating and Construction Company, the executing agency for the project] as to what those safety procedures are and how they are going to improve safety,” Minister with responsibility for Works in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development (MEGID), Robert Morgan told reporters Wednesday during a tour of projects in St James.

“We understand that there have been personnel changes by China Harbour. I cannot speak about that;  that is a matter for them. But they have made changes in terms of personnel, in terms of health and safety and we have a zero tolerance approach towards these sort of things,” he added.

The minister explained that once the report is submitted, a determination will be made on when work can resume. He is uncertain whether the pause will lead to delays to the planned end of September opening of the Montego Bay bypass leg of the project.

“It may or may not, we are very advanced with the perimeter road. As you can see we have put on a lot of the base course, there are still some things like the drains on the bridge that need to be put on, the barriers need to be put on but we are pretty much 90 per cent there,” Morgan said.

“The rest of what needs to be done is not heavy infrastructure work, it’s merely peripheral works so we are hoping it does not impact the opening,” he added.

The minister assured that an update will be provided to the public if the project’s completion date has to be pushed back.

“We are not really afraid to tell people what the reality is because we believe by just being open and transparent people will appreciate what we are doing,” he said.

In the wake of the fatality on the project site, Morgan said his ministry and its agencies will review their systems and policies.

“I’ve also instructed the National Works Agency (NWA) to review the safety procedures on every single site, whether it be a SPARK site, whether it be a patching site, to ensure we do not have any more incidents,” he said.

“We cannot afford to lose anyone, no matter how important our infrastructure projects are,” the minister added.

Morgan said the deceased, James, worked with the NWA for years but was carrying out consulting work on the bypass road when the tragedy occurred. He praised him for his work and contribution to the country’s infrastructure development.

“He was someone who believed in Jamaica. He has worked in government for most of his life, spending over 20 years working for the National Works Agency and then left, about two years ago, to work with SJE consultants,” the minister said.

“He has done a lot of work on South Coast Highway Improvement Project, and then he was doing a lot of work here. He was actually one of the chief engineers on site to ensure the quality of the work was done. It is a really sad occasion,” he added.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, NROCC Managing Director Steven Edwards spoke of the significant progress made on the Perimeter Road project.

“Overall, the project is approximately 87 per cent complete. The Montego Bay Bypass, which is where we are today, is approximately 90 per cent complete,” he said as the group stood on the bridge that straddles the Irwin Gap.

“We are in the final stages; there is signage put up, guard rails being installed, the median bar is substantially completed as well,” he added.

Edwards reiterated the plan to open that section of the US$354.25-million project by the end of the month.

“We have a target date for the end of September, and we are still aiming for the end of September. We are at the final stages right now and closer to the date we will have an inspection after the road is finished. We will have to have a walkthrough, checklist to make sure we document all the defects; the road will have to be gazetted,” he explained.

On the matter of tolling, Morgan said the issue remains under consideration.

“We are not there yet, that is a matter that Cabinet has to look at because we would not be able to give an idea,” he said.

“There are various permutations that are being considered by the government and we would really have to discuss it in detail with the prime minister [Dr Andrew Holness] who is actually the Minister of Works,” he continued.